Brooms Head Holiday Park patrons have been notified that the sites adjacent to the beach will no longer be available for booking after May 2025 with the move marking the first step in returning the foreshore to the broader community.
Brooms Head Holiday Park is unique in the way that most of the facilities near the Holiday Park, such as the foreshore, amenities, playground, community hall and Snak Shak, are community facilities available to both residents and visitors alike.
Discussions with residents and broader Clarence Valley community members to date highlights a need for more open space and picnic facilities for day trippers to Brooms Head. Following a Council Resolution at the November 2024 Ordinary Council Meeting, further discussions will be held with the community about site plans to support the Holiday Park's future as a space enjoyed by both campers and day visitors.
Clarence Valley Council's General Manager, Laura Black explains the reasoning behind the decision.
"The movement of large vehicles in such a pedestrian-heavy zone, along with issues related to wastewater disposal, have raised safety and environmental concerns. Complaints from residents and day-trippers about these impacts were frequent until the recent decision to remove sites along the foreshore, was made and communicated.
"Over time, camping on the foreshore has evolved. Council made the decision to reduce the availability of these sites as part of an approach to ultimately phase out camping in this location. This decision responds to community concerns about overcrowding and large vehicles encroaching on public access to the much-loved beach and foreshore areas.
"Council resolved to inform regular campers who had enjoyed exclusive access to these beachfront sites for generations that changes were coming."
The August 2021 Council Business Paper identifies that Clarence Valley Council has maintained the foreshore camping tradition beyond that intended by Maclean Shire Council, which resolved in 1987 to maintain camping as long as the original persons occupying the site did so. The camping rights were to remain with the husband and wife originally approved and were not to be transferred to another person and were to be returned for public recreation once this right expired.
"While overdue, we have been implementing that decision since 2021," Ms Black said.
The sites, which were originally small and designed for simpler camping experiences in the mid-to-late 1900s, are not suitable for the larger, self-contained RVs and caravans that now dominate camping in the 2020s. These modern vehicles often encroach on neighbouring sites and public areas, leading to over-crowding.
Importantly, this decision does not prevent long-time campers from booking other sites within the Holiday Park, which offers 238 available sites.
